About The Autoextremist

Author, commentator, influencer. The Consigliere. Minister of the High-Octane Truth. Editor-in-Chief of Autoextremist.com.

Peter De Lorenzo has been in and around the sport of racing since the age of ten. After a 22-year career in automotive marketing and advertising, where he worked on national campaigns as well as creating many motorsports campaigns for various clients, De Lorenzo established Autoextremist.com on June 1, 1999. Over the years De Lorenzo's commentaries on racing and the business of motorsports have resonated throughout the industry. Because of the burgeoning influence of those commentaries, De Lorenzo has directly consulted automotive clients on the fundamental direction and content of their motorsports programs. De Lorenzo is considered to be one of the most influential voices commenting on the sport today.

Fumes

Detroit. We were again pleased to be able to feature the work of John Thawley in these pages this year. John is an extraordinarily gifted talent who brings the drama, passion and exhilaration of sports car racing to life in scintillating images that resonate throughout the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. We are featuring John's work in Fumes and "The Line" for the rest of the year, and you can connect to his full year-end gallery here.

I'd also like to take this time to recognize the countless people - including the corner workers, the track officials and IMSA personnel, to mention just a few - who work tirelessly to make sure these racing events are presented professionally and with precision; it is much appreciated by the entire racing community. We will be updating "The Line" as needed with racing news and updates until we take our annual break.

Editor's Note: Many of you have seen Peter's references over the years to the Hydrogen Electric Racing Federation (HERF), which he launched in 2007. For those of you who weren't following AE at the time, you can read two of HERF's press releases here and here. And for even more details (including a link to Peter's announcement speech), check out the HERF entry on Wikipedia here. -WG

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)Daytona Beach, Florida, 1957. One of the specially-prepared Ford Thunderbird "Battlebirds" at the Speed Week Trials in Daytona Beach that year. This "Battlebird" ran a highly-modified 430 cu. in. Lincoln V8 and driver Danny Eames used it for two runs of 97.33 mph and 98.065 mph in the Standing Mile Acceleration Trials. Watch a very cool video here.